The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Review

Based on the original movie from 1974, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetrical horror multiplayer game that differentiates itself from the alternatives introducing a new 3vs4 formula. Before starting the matchmaking, you can decide to play as one of the family members (aka the killers) or one of the victims. If you have played Dead by Daylight, Friday the 13th or Evil Dead, you already have an idea of the goal here: the family members must hunt and slaughter all victims, while the latter must find a way to escape, using all the tools they can find. Unfortunately, there isn’t a classic tutorial mode in the game; instead you can find some tutorial videos which will show you how to play, but they are quite inefficient because they tend to repeat the same concepts over and over without giving a real idea of how the UI works and what the gameplay loop is. This is why you will mostly learn by doing during the first matches, possibly losing them and becoming a bit frustrated.

Each match starts with four victims captured in the basement who must find a way to escape while being chased by Leatherface, the most iconic killer in the family. As Leatherface, your job is simple: you must turn on your chainsaw through a short mini-game and start hunting. The other family members are on the level above, and while they can’t assist you immediately, they have another important task - securing the exit points and feeding your beloved grandpa. Exactly, grandpa is the 4^th silent killer who is always present (just like in the movie) and not controlled by any player. He starts each game sleeping and can be awakened by victims or by a member of the family who feeds him with blood (found on the map or obtained for killing). Once awakened, he has the ability to spot the victims who are moving and he can even level up, reducing the cool down needed for its power and making it impossible for the victims to hide. It works pretty well because grandpa is just as dangerous as the other family members, but he can also be easily attacked by victims and temporarily incapacitated if left alone. Another great aspect of the gameplay is that each member of the family (Leatherface, the Cook, the Hitchhiker, Sissy and Johnny) have different stats and abilities, so they all have their pros and cons depending on the situation. For example, the Cook is great for feeding grandpa, padlocking doors and hearing survivors’ noises from a distance, but his damage is really low and he can’t run for long without having to take a break. It’s up to you to learn how to use each character in the best way, mixing your abilities with the ones of your team. The game also features a deep character progression that includes a skill tree with multiple paths unlocking different passive and active abilities. Once you have selected a path, the others get locked, but you can always reset the points and try a different path if you need to. Though not many (and not for each character, sadly), there are also few different outfits you can unlock simply by playing. This also works for victims, who have their own stats and skills, such as fast lockpicking. Each equipped skill levels up with the experience gained, which encourages you to experiment with many of them. Playing as a victim against not one, but three, killers can be fun but also very challenging. The idea would be to collaborate with your companions to reach the exit points, but most of the time the ones who silently move alone are the ones able to escape, at least from what I saw. If you are spotted by a killer, it’s just a matter of time before being chased by all of them, which gives your friends more time to reach an exit point. Ultimately, it all depends on the players’ skills and knowledge of the map, and that’s what makes the game really fun. One thing that can ruin the experience though, is the brightness level. I don’t know if it’s a bug or if it’s intentional, but even at default the game is too dark. As a killer, it’s hard to spot survivors who hide in the basement shadows or in the grass at night. Turning the in-game brightness at max helps slightly, but not as much as it should. Again, perhaps is a bug or maybe it’s intentional to give victims more places to hide, as it’s clearly something that can affect your chances of winning as a member of the family.

The best aspect of the game is the incredibly faithful recreation of the locations seen in the movie. There are three maps available at launch: the Family House, the Gas Station and the Slaughterhouse. Each one is very detailed and built through different levels (basement, main floor and even first floor) and a perimeter area which includes the exit points for the victims. All the three maps are big enough and offer plenty of possibilities for both killers and victims, but after more than 30 hours I think I’d had enough of them. The game clearly needs more maps and customization options in order to keep the community engaged for longer. It’s worth mentioning that at the time of this review, the game does not feature microtransaction. No season pass, battle pass, paid cosmetics other than an Execution Pack DLC. There will probably be more DLCs, but the hope here is that the developers will keep adding free content as well.

Graphically the game is powered by the Unreal Engine 4 and looks pretty nice. The performance is great too, with only some occasional stuttering. The game also supports cross-play between PC, Xbox and PlayStation, which is rare to see and makes searching for matches really fast. A few bugs are still present,b though. For example, sometimes parts of the user interface don’t leave the sceen or you can be suddenly stuck with your character, unable to move and forced to abandon the match. Also, after every 4 matches you are unable to play because of an annoying network error that only gets fixed by restarting the game. These issues are likely going to be fixed, but for the moment they are quite annoying.

Overall, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a really fun and addictive asymmetrical experience. It still needs a road map with updates and new content, but the basic idea and gameplay loop are promising. If you love the movie and this kind of multiplayer game, you will be right at home.

Review written by Sonic Punk for Zeepond.com

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Steam Store Page